If I have to hear one more story about poor, poor Duchess Kate and how her life is so stressful that she needs to constantly undertake extensive “retail therapy,” my head is going to explode. This is one of the most grating things about Kate, and for the life of me I don’t understand why she’s praised for it. Like, it’s a big deal that Kate doesn’t have a stylist and she doesn’t officially have a “dresser” (which is someone dedicated to “the royal closet” who organizes all of one’s clothing), and she’s praised time and time again for being so “normal” and shopping for all of her clothes herself. Why? Why is that something she needs to be praised for? If she had a full schedule at any point since becoming a member of the royal family, she wouldn’t have the time to do her own shopping and she could be praised for, you know, actually doing work.

Anyway, Us Weekly wants you to know that Kate is feeling well enough to go shopping. GOD SAVE THE DUCHESS! England has not fallen because Kate has made her way to some boutiques.

With a royal baby on the way — and her acute morning sickness thankfully behind her — Duchess Kate is not content to sit still! Pregnant Kate Middleton has been spotted in London recently indulging in some (budget-minded) retail therapy.

On the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 28, the first-time mom-to-be browsed the wares at Selfridge’s department store in London — where she checked out casual and sportswear at Sweaty Betty, a women’s sportswear brand, a store source confirms to Us Weekly. Prince William’s 31-year-old wife eventually scooped up a pair of Kriya Yoga leggings in grey, which retail for $45.

During the low-key trip, the future Queen also checked out the sweaters in the section of her beloved brand Reiss, but avoided other pricey labels, the source adds.

Just a few days before, Middleton stocked up on some maternity wear at another London store, JoJo Maman Bebe. Another source also confirms that the royal has placed an order for items from the new Asos Maternity Collection.

But it’s not all about shopping for Middleton, now that she’s completely recovered from hyperemesis gravidarum, which landed her in the hospital back in December. “Catherine’s arranging meetings with the charities she is involved with and planning future engagements before the baby is born,” a royal source tells Us. “She wants to keep herself busy now that she is feeling better.”

The leggings… maternity leggings? Are those allowed in the royal family? Is Kate’s maternity-wear going to be leggings and tunics? That might be cute, actually, and I would buy it because she loves to show off her legs. As for Kate “arranging meetings with charities” – hahaha. Good save, St. James Palace. Kate’s been spotted out shopping all week and they had to say something about why she’s well enough to shop ‘til she drops but she’s not well enough to begin her royal schedule anew. Poor Waity! She wouldn’t have waited for the ring for the better part of a decade if she knew that people actually expected her to, like, do stuff besides shop and get her hair done. Woe is Katy!

Also: our Kate only made it to the #7 position on Tatler’s list of the “50 most fascinating people in the country.” Pippa outranked her!!! Pippa got #2 (which is a discussion in itself), the Queen is #4, and Harry is #6. Eugenie is #9, Zara Phillips is #35 and Kate and William’s dog Lupo is #50. Poor Kate. Outranked by her sister AND the Queen. Heads shall roll!

Last story: The Mail’s sources claim that the Queen is considering (??) giving Michael Middleton a peerage! That means a title, in case you don’t know. Meaning Michael and Carole Middleton could possible be “made” into the Earl and Lady Buckleberry or possible Michael would become a Lord Buckleberry. It’s actually a big deal and a real discussion because it’s very unusual for the heir to the throne to NOT have titled grandparents, so if the Queen decides to give Michael Middleton a peerage, it would probably be before Kate gives birth.

Lol! I avoid any and everything with Kate, or “royalty” in general, but Kaiser’s title was dripping with sarcasm, I couldn’t resist! I find them to be so boring, but if I was British, I’d be pissed about wasting taxpayer money. Since they’re technically not royalty, why don’t they foot the bill for all of their expenses like the jubilee and such?

I can’t speak for everyone, but personally, I’m not too fussed – I think per citizen the cost of the Royal Family is almost negligable. I’d much rather throw a few quid their way than become a republic.
Ugh . . . ‘President Cameron’ – *shudder*

My hub and I took a rare trip 5+ years ago. We went to view some of the royal jewels (the real ones). Anyway, at the end of the tour there was a box to give donations for their cleaning. My husband was so taken aback by the arrogance that he didn’t stop talking about it the rest of the trip. Really? After all the $$ the residents have to pay in taxes, as you say, to keep up the royal families lifestyle, they still think asking for donations to CLEAN THEIR JEWELS is not out of turn?

And also, what the hell do these titles even mean if she can just make them up and give them out to whoever she wants? Do they really even mean that much? I’m sure they do to soem people in England. And I get that its a bit more complicated than that and it still means having the Queen like you enough to mumble some words at a ceremony, roll her eyes at your wife for being “new money” and check out early to go feed her dogs, but still.

Apologies to readers in England. I am admittedly ignorant about the process. And feeling bitchy today.

@Jill… seriously? So, tourists spend the money to visit the country, and the wealthy royals also ask people to ‘donate’ money to help clean the freaking royal jewels?? Does this sound… well, WRONG to anyone else?

Hey, I know… maybe that should be Kate’s ‘job’. Cleaning the freaking royal jewels!!

I’m seriously bitchy this morning, and for some reason, reading this really made me mad!

Jill – not to worry we are right there too sometimes. It’s kind of strange how we love/hate the royals.

Point of correction though, the state jewels don’t belong to the royals. They belong to the nation. Technically, the Queen borrows them to wear to parliament and her coronation only. Rest of the time they are in the tower for people to enjoy.

Jill – the answer to your 2nd question is that apart from the social cache, a peerage title gives the holder the right to sit in the upper chamber of parliament. Meaning they can influence laws and government.

Titles are usually given as a reward for service to the crown so it’s kind of puzzling why the Middletons feel they deserve a title. A peerage one no less.

Further, their argument that the monarch’s parents should/always had a title is baseless because it’s the first time that the monarch has truly commoner parents. It’s an unprecedented FIRST TIME situation. In ye old times, the monarch’s parents were already titled in their own right. And it was the norm, then. We don’t live in ye old times nor have the Middletons performed any sort of service to the crown beyond marrying their daughter to it. Unless they consider breeding a service.in which case eeewww!!!

@Jill: The Tower of London is a museum and the Crown Jewels are a collection housed in that museum. ALL museums ask for donations like that periodically. They’re not asking you to give them money to go into the royal’s personal vaults and clean their personal jewelry. A museum is asking for donations to clean museum artifacts. Yes, the Crown Jewels are used sometimes for specific purposes but for the most part they are a collection in a museum that is owned by the state and on display for people to see. If they were personal jewels they wouldn’t be on display and no one would ever get to see them.

I don’t find her annoying because I never expected her to get a “real job”, etc. She comes from a very rich family, went to very nice private schools, did a lot of skiing and tanning and such. She wouldn’t have looked so lazy if it hadn’t taken her 10 long years to get the husband. Rich girls like her are expected to do almost nothing while waiting around to get married. It’s the culture of her socio-economic group. I just find her an interesting distraction.

Meridith,
You are wrong about girls from her social economic group doing nothing, all ex girlfriends of William and Harry have carers and jobs and charities they support, work for or started. One of William’s ex is Apr Gucci head, another started her own clothing label even the real royals York princess have jobs now and they are in their 20′s . It’s not okay for women to just do nothing in her circle and that’s why she was mocked.

Kate will probably do one or two engagements then rest for a few weeks again. She certainly is living a very different life to Diana who got thrown in the deep end from day one. I would think Kate would want to do something she must be bored. How much shopping can you do?

A friends father works @ the Towe of London & and it’s basically broke. As someone else pointed out, the Crown Jewels are owned by the nation, not the crown.
I objected to the donation box when I saw it in the tower (staunch Republican that I am) but once I realised why it was there I chucked a couple of quid in.

Agree with whoever said Kate should be put to work polishing the sparkly Crown Jewels instead of just paying attention to her husbands.

Kate Middleton can do as she pleases when SHE pays for her lifestyle instead of the taxpayers (aka the Duchy) shelling out $150,000 in a single year for her clothing alone. $150,000 in clothes for 65 HOURS of work in a year.

The Heir to Heir argument doesn’t really stand at this point. Different times, different financial realities. Charles is pruning the royal family back hard. 3000+ engagements a year will need to be handled by just Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, and Henry. And Henry will be required by the taxpayers to work full-time in the services to prove he isn’t “sponging.” Most of the current “working royals” are past retirement age. They have given decades of service to Her Majesty and deserve to be allowed to retire. WAY past time for William and Kate to Get To Work Full Time. 600+ engagements per year minimum, pregnant or not.

Precisely!!
Kate is NOT married to the Prince of Wales as Diana was – only the Heir to the Heir (big difference)… Crucially, her husband is Diana’s eldest son who witness first hand (even from the womb) what Diana went through and the mistakes that were made.
…No one can be sure about what will happen in the future, but right now William is treating Kate as a Princess and future Queen (rightly so)

@ Sisi. Diana was 19 to Kate Middleton’s 30. Diana had less than a year in the spotlight before marriage, Kate and William were together for a decade before they married. In Diana’s own words, her work saved her when her marriage fell apart. She loved her work, and worked very hard 150+ engagements in her first year, while actually being violently ill with morning sickness (instead of the fake HG diagnosis of Kate’s). If you are so convinced that Kate Middleton has the undying love and support of her husband, and that is the thing that Diana lacked, why wouldn’t Kate Middleton be capable of working full-time as a royal?

@ Sisi again.
Let’s tally this up. Most of us who are lucky-enough to have jobs are working 40+ hours per week earning our place in this world, to make up for the number of co-workers who have been laid off and not replaced due to the economy. Add in 1- 2 hours of commuting time per day, plus only 2 weeks of vacation a year. We spend our time working, talking with clients, giving presentations, and being actively engaged with what we’re doing. So no, her job isn’t harder than that.

How to do 600+ engagements in a year? The courtiers are very good at scheduling and organizing. Travel to village (1 hour). Meet Mayor of village and tour village hall (1 engagement, 45 minutes). Travel 15 minutes to village school (1 engagement, spend 45 minutes at school). Travel 25 minutes to village retirement home (1 engagement, spend 45 minutes at the home). Travel home from village (1 hour).

3 engagements per day, 5 days per week. Still less than 40 hours per week of work including travel time.

15 engagements per week, multiplied by 40 weeks per year = 600 engagements per year. That still gives a ridiculously-generous 12 weeks of vacation a year. Seriously. You think a 31-year-old woman, with what you presume is a loving and supportive partner, who never has to worry about keeping the roof over her head, cannot handle that?

Ok. That’s it. She officially annoys me. I was really trying to give her the benefit of the doubt for the longest time, but I just can’t anymore.

She shopped, OMG. And she’s, what? THINKING about charity work or something maybe? What the hell does that even MEAN?

I think she and anyone else perpetuating this facade of “work” woild be better off dropping the whole thing and just being honest. She shops, she gets her hair done, she gets her nails done, she….hangs out. The end.

She is no Diana! Wasn’t Diana 20 years old when while pregnant embarked on raising awareness for charities? Didn’t Diana raise awareness for aids sufferers when it was not popular? Diana brought great attention to victims of land mines in war torn countries as well…when it was not popular. Whereas Kate is given a list of charities and she decides who she will represent. Diana may not have had a degree from University but she certainly demonstrated more initiative and energy towards her charity work than Kate.

Diana did huge work for AIDS. She was one of the first people to shake the hand of a man with AIDS. She wasn’t wearing gloves, and she wanted to show that you couldn’t just get it from touching people. It was pretty gutsy of her at the time.

There are pictures on twitter. There is a media ban on reporting on her ‘private’ activities so newsreports can’t reproduce them. They can however write a jolly positive article about what a trooper she is whilst alluding to her activities. She’s been really visible locally all week.

Sonia – we do have freedom of the press. Allegedly. However the royal family controls what is written about them, and any breaches are taken very seriously. Of course this doesn’t mean that they don’t plant stories themselves to further their own agenda or that leaks don’t happen.

In the case of William, the media thing is on unprecedented level of collusion.

William’s marriage was supposed to be the last line of an informal media ban because he would become a full time royal, except he has obstinately refused to do so and is using this as an excuse to insist on the continued ban. He is also wielding the power of lawyers and PCC to threaten and intimidate any publication/outlet that steps out of line. He has ‘requested’ that ONLY positive stories be written about Kate and by extension himself. Any publication that releases pictures is also liable. He can wield this threat retrospectively as we saw with the xmas pictures.

In this post levenson enquiry era, the british media is spooked and cautious and giving in to his wishes.

@ sondra – it’s not so much a “dictator” thing as slightly different ethics.

Britain actually ranks higher than the US in the “Press Freedom Index”, but draws a slightly different line between an individual’s “right to privacy” and the public’s “right to know”.

Honestly, if you think about it, the idea that anything a famous person does is fair-game is really quite new. 20 years ago, a US senator could a mistress, and the media would know, but choose not to report it – using the argument that everyone had the right to privacy.

In this day and age when it is so easy peasy to snap a photo on the sly with your phone, I find it really hard to believe this story. I agree – it will probably succeed in increasing sales in these stores!

There are blogs out there with the photos. There was one from behind where she’s wearing a cape getting something to eat. There was also one of her in The Gap. I didn’t think they looked much like her, but apparently it was. She was also seen at Starbucks getting coffee, and spotted at a gas station near her parents home a week or two ago.

Poor Carole. She really, really, really wants to be a peer. And is resorting to getting the DM on board to beg for it.

And not just any peerage, oh no. She’ll settle for nothing less than an Earldom!!! If her darling Kate is getting Diana’s cast offs, then she’ll have the same. An earldom Ma’am, please, please, pretty please!

As for Kate shopping, she’s been shopping up a storm. There has been a sighting almost everyday. I am surprised she went to Sweaty Betty in Selfridges when there is one right next to KP or well, maybe she’s shopped out High Street Ken, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Nottinghill and Westfield shepards bush so she’s venturing further afield.

As for the notion that she’ll work….eventually, isn’t that the usual statement to placate the peasants?!

Countess Carole does NOT have a ring to it at all. Lady Carole sounds better.

I don’t know why it would be necessary to give them a peerage. I would think commoner grandparents would be a badge of honour for a future King, not a negative, but then that must be the commoner in me talking.

These “secret meetings” are always put out whenever anyone dares to question Waity’s lack of work ethic. If she could show commitment to visiting her charities as she has towards everyday shopping and buying coffee at Starbucks, NONE of us here would bitch about her at all.

Regarding the peerage: part of the Middletons’ appeal is their middle-class “we’re just like you” background. William also apparently likes them because they’re “normal”. Giving them an earldom would sort of cancel that out, no?

If it’s such a BIG deal that the future monarch would have ordinary, non-titled grandparents then William should have married a fellow royal or at least a member of the aristocracy in the first place!

I’ve always thought the Boleyn comparisons don’t add up except for the 2 daughters and a son thing thing.

In terms of grasping families, all medieval families were the same. get your daughter into the King’s bed, riches ensue.

From that perspective, all prominent medieval families were the same.

In terms of what Kate and the Middletons represent to William, i always thought Jane and the Seymours were a better fit.

William is obsessed with his dead mother. Unfortunately, his mother was a drama Queen and unbiddable to boot. So he has gone looking for the opposite. And Kate has molded herself to fit that quiet, drama free, completely biddable ideal. She’s frequently described as dull and forgetable by people who have met her including her fellow students and tutors.

That’s exactly what Jane Seymour did to get Henry. She looked at Anne and did the opposite, whilst resolutely holding out for the ring. And Jane has gone down in history as dull and boring, completely biddable.

All the while her family quietly insinuating themselves into Henry’s life for glory and riches.

Come on…why does everyone have to work? She’s a duchess, for Christ’s sake. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to work at all, but unfortunately I’m not as lucky. Instead of working, I would travel, read books and meet interesting people – I would be much more interesting myself. Unfortunately I have to spend 20 hours each day working as a junior associate in a law firm. So please, don’t blame her for not working as there’s nothing wrong with it!

Yeah. She is the wife of the second in line to the throne. It isn’t really a ‘choice’. The whole serving the country thing is kind of the only reason for the Royal Family to continue to exist.

From the Royal Family website about Kate’s public role:
Part of The Duchess of Cambridge’s work is to support The Queen at home and abroad.

From the part about the role of the Royal Family:
“Members of the Royal Family support The Queen in her many State and national duties, as well as carrying out important work in the areas of public and charitable service, and helping to strengthen national unity and stability.

The Royal Family also plays an important role in supporting and encouraging the public and charity sectors. About 3,000 organisations list a member of the Royal Family as patron or president.

The huge range of these organisations – covering every subject from education to the environment, hospitals to housing – allows members of the Royal Family to meet people from a wide spectrum of national and local life, and to understand their interests, problems and concerns.

Finally, the Royal Family as a whole plays a role in strengthening national unity. Members of the Royal Family are able to recognise and participate in community and local events in every part of the UK, from the opening of new buildings to celebrations or acts of commemoration.”

Kate AND Wills (who I actually place most of the blame on) seem to have not gotten the memo about what is expected of them. I think they are confusing the 21st Century with the 19th.

Kate has done SO.VERY.LITTLE of any of those things! Sadly, I think Kate and Will DID get the memo… they have just chosen to ignore it. This has been said many times, but Will and Kate seem to want the royal lifestyle without the burden of the service and scrutiny that come with it.

If she married a random Duke, absolutely. But she married a royal one, so she gets a huge amount of public money. Not directly, but her security, travel and the refurb on the London palace costs us millions. Sterling.

I used to eyeroll when people asked about her work history when she was plain Miss, because it was none of our business. But right now, my taxes are paying for her house. The quid pro quo of that is that she cuts ribbons and supports charity events, and national businesses. She’s not doing that hardly at all, which means, I’m afraid, that she’s mooching off the taxpayer. That’s not okay.

The closest analogy I can offer is to ask if it would be okay if Mrs Obama lived in the White House, had her security and travel costs met, but did hardly any work to support the USA in exchange for that position. I’m presuming the answer would be no?

Kat, sorry, but your thoughts are quite pathetic!
Working dors not only mean earning money. It as well means earning respect in your own and as well public eyes. Especially in Kate’s case, it is about self – accomplishment and contribution to other people’s lives, since she is to serve them.
Her work and your work are two different planets, and nobody expects her to commute to job five day per week and spend 20 hours there. She is hardly able to stay for AN hour with her charities, which she manages to visit once in a year. That’s it!

Same here!! … I wouldn’t “work” either if I had the choice.
She is the wife of a future King whether we like it or not, and at this moment she is fulfilling the most crucial part of her role, which is delivering the next Heir (the 2nd most important is to support William)
I think Kate decided a long time ago against having a career or a significant job outside the family business – I don’t see anything wrong with that, given her circumstances.
Some people do not want to accept the fact that she’s always have had her family business to go back to, and very possibly a big trustfund set up for her from chilhood to rely upon (without asking her parents for money) …None of it is unusual or worthy of criticism.
… As for Waity? … How ridiculous!!
Waiting until they were both ready was the sensible thing to do.

I knew you supported Kate, but i didn’t realise you could/would re-interprete things to suit your POV.

Mich, several posters upthread has cut and pasted Kate’s Public job description taken from the official BRF website. There is nothing in it that tallies with your version of what she is supposed to be doing or even who she is supposed to be supporting.

I suggest you read it or go look at the website yourself if you think we are making this up.

As for Kate’s decisions about her career. I think her jigsaw boss summed it up perfectly. Kate prioritised her relationship with William over work. Nothing, not even work was allowed to interfere with it. And she should know since she worked closely with Kate to ensure that work could be fitted in with Kate’s schedule of being at William’s beck and call.

All sources, pro/anti, have said that she didn’t have a trust fund. there was a trust fund set up by Michael Middleton’s grandfather [i think] for school fees ONLY. It wasn’t some huge sum that would allow for frivolities. Any money that the Middletons have made came about many years AFTER the 3 kids were born since that is when the business was set up, and boosted by the public association with William.

Given how much the royal family want her to be praised and liked, and indeed succeed, her CV is curiously bare. it reads like the kind of CV one puts together when you are first out in the world job hunting. It lists school accomplishments as though she just graduated from college.

She deserves the Waity nickname because she never pursued anything else. not a hobby, interest, friendships…nothing. She allowed stories in the media that postulated that she couldn’t get on with her life because she wasn’t royal. yet. Thus reinforcing the notion that she was waiting for the ring in order to begin her life. The same idea was floated in the engagement that she had to be royal for her to start doing other things, like working. It was made very clear that ONCE she married, she would be working very hard because she had been preparing for this for all the time she was waiting.

The most irritating part of this story or about Kate is that while she is too sick to visit her 4 charities but not for shopping, one of her charities that treat children canceled their fund raising program because they couldn’t raise the profile of the event and the tickets sales were very low. This hospital treat terminal children and have to close their fund raising program but their patron and America’s beloved duchess couldn’t bother to support them or visit them or help them in any way or form. Tell me again why do Americans like her?

Here I am posting you guys a link to the tweet from one of her charities treating children which said they are closing a fund raising event on 8 February because of very low tickets saleshttp://royaldish.com/index.php?topic=9634.750

This tweet also proves that palace lies about her working behind the scenes or attending secret meetings with her charities or reading daily reports because if she did, she would have known about them canceling this event and still she is not supporting them. So either she doesn’t give a tiny rats ass whether her charity raises money or n not , or maybe she have no idea whatsoever about anything they do as she is not working or doing anything behind the scenes. It has to be one of these options.

LAK: OHMYGAWD. You mean Kate regifted a hamper she’d been given? And will now take a tax write off on it? (Are you allowed to do that over there?) T.A.C.K.Y. Wonder what the person who gifted it to her thinks?

Angelic: Thanks for the tweet. I’m going to need to go to the chiropractor for all the neck problems I’m getting from rolling smacking my head.

Angelic20/Bluhare – Thanks for that link. It IS the same charity. Really what is the point of having Kate as patron if it does them no good. They are exactly where they were before and probably worse off because everyone assumes with Kate as their patron, they are getting plenty of donations.

I don’t think Kate has much to do with the lack of success with the charity, but I also think it couldn’t have hurt if she was more active with her patronages.

She just isn’t doing enough, especially given her visibility around the world and the goodwill and attention the press has heaped on her.

Had she invited the press to cover 1 “secret” meeting per week (if she truly does them), I’m sure people will pay attention to the charities she supports.

Her fans never fail to identify every piece of clothing she wears, so I doubt they’d overlook her presence and contributions to her charities. They’d have been touting Kate’s many, many accomplishments if Kate has shown any inclination to actively help charitable causes.

Then again, this is the woman who went shopping right after visiting EACH and meeting sick children and their families. Her actions that day spoke of a lack of sincerity and compassion.

Only someone who didn’t give a damn about other people would meet sick children and then think, “Time for shopping!” and buy 2 big bags full of purchases.

She just doesn’t care, IMO. She’s never gonna change.

Never forget: she said in her engagement interview that she doesn’t care what the public thinks. She only cares about William and her family’s opinions.

Well, isn’t this special. Waity shops! Wow. Seriously, I don’t expect to see this woman officially until that baby is born. No way is she going to have pictures of her wearing anything above a size 0.

If the Queen grants the Middletons’ fondest wish of peerage, go ahead and end the monarchy now. I thought Willie married Waity because she was a special commoner snowflake. Not because she came with a title. I guess that’s all changed now that she & the Midds are part of the family.

The story of Queen Giving titles is just a fantasy on Middleton’s part and rumour and rubbish on daily mail’s part as their is nothing new to write about Kate and William so they ate scratching the bottom of the barrel. It will never happen as Queen doesn’t give into media pressure and can’t create title as she wishes. In recent times a lot of deserving people were denied titles, so I don’t think it will happen, it’s just another rumour to fill out the pages like the invitation on Christmas last year.

I’m not so sure, Angelic. I think it’s a trial balloon to gauge the public’s reaction.

There was another article the other day about how Kate wants her mother to be the nanny and move into Kensington Palace. That, I can believe. My mother would have walked through fire to be with her grandchildren. Although, Carole’s motivations may not be quite as altruistic.

So, now they are actually reporting that she is ‘completely recovered from hyperemesis gravidarum’ huh? Do they not realize that such a rapid and complete recovery from HG at this stage of her pregnancy is just…. not HG? LOL Having suffered from my own hideously awful HG pregnancies, and knowing others who were horribly sick in the first trimester (not diagnosed with hg), I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. Whether HG or just nasty morning sickness that requires treatment, it SUCKS. I do wish they would shut up about the HG now though. It seemed like they were backing off that term for a while, but now it’s back!

I’m glad someone who’s had HG said that, because I said WTF?? when the reports were out that she was at Starbucks getting coffee. I’ve not had HG but when I’m nauseous/queasy, the absolute last thing I want is coffee, and the taste for it is the last thing to come back.

If I were the overly cynical sort I would say that HG paved the way for them to be able to spend XMas with the Middletons. Even I’m not that bad though so I suspect the docs just screwed up with the diagnosis.

Mich, first of all, thank you for acknowledging my new promotion to Baroness. It’s nice to know my minions have taken notice.

I think you’re dead on re HG and Christmas. Plus, I think it was LAK who said that her doctors never did go public with her diagnosis, it was St. James Palace. So, maybe they played a little fast and loose with the facts?

Wow. I neither like, nor dislike Kate, but I have to laugh at what a hatchett job this article (losing the word loosely) is. I also have to laugh at how many of the commenters have taken on board your meandering, badly written rant and been so enraged by it. C’mon people, this writer makes even Perez Hilton look semi-literate.

I’m not a defender of Kate, but I am going to stand up against appalling writing and a complete lack of integrity, wit or balance.

I don’t think the Queen likes Kate very much, so I doubt she’s willing to “give” the Middletons a title. Kate is not “one of them” and the Queen is from an era when they truly believed the aristocracy was better than everyone else, just because of their birth. As if God deemed some people better, and thus caused them to be born into better families. Plus, Kate has done nothing before or after her marriage to earn the Queen’s respect. I don’t think the Queen is a “nice” person, but she is very hard-working. And I think the Queen appreciates Anne because of that. But not Kate.

Plus, look how the Queen insulted Kate’s wedding gown by calling it “hideous.” I know people defend Kate by saying the Queen meant the DISPLAY was hideous, not the dress. But the Queen didn’t actually say “display” did she? And when has the Queen ever made mistakes publicly? She knows exactly what she’s doing and exactly what she’s saying. She’s had over 80 years of practice. If the Queen gave the impression that she thought the dress was hideous, then that’s exactly what she intended to do. I’m gonna miss her when she’s gone.

We think alike Mrs. Krabapple. I think the Queen has been a bit cheesed about Wm/Kate/Middletons, if queens get cheesed. Maybe they just get perturbed. But William and Kate have done a few things to hack HM off, including not telling her before they announced their engagement, not telling her before they announced their pregnancy, and basically thumbing their noses. She exacted some revenge with that order of rank thing a while back, where Kate was demoted to the bottom unless she was with William, although I would bet Andrew had a big hand in that.

The Queen is not anti-commoner though. It’s said that Sophie Wessex (youngest son’s wife) is her favourite daughter in law, and Sophie works hard. She has a lot of engagements and charities, most of which with little or no publicity. Sophie’s family isn’t from the aristocracy either, and I believe her dad goes to Sandringham for Christmas (correct me if I’m wrong on that), just like Charles’ nanny does.

So, no, I don’t think Kate’s very popular, and I suspect William may have fallen down the list as well. In some ways I think this is a lot more to do with William than Kate and she gets the blame.

Grace Under Pressure: That was great wasn’tit? A not-so-subtle hint that Kate should get off her arse and do something. If she didn’t want a real 9-5 job, she could have done some volunteer work to show us all how noble and caring she is, but nope. Rather be at William’s beck and call.

@ Kloops. Kate Middleton and the rest of the Middleton clan are rumored to have had Katie Nicholl and Niraj Tanna on speed dial for a decade. Explains all of those exclusives. KM isn’t docile; she selected her quarry at age 18 and went after him with everything she had. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep the ring and crown, including being a doormat for Wills, but be high and mighty with everyone else. She clearly didn’t go quietly in 2007 and she would not go quietly in the future.

She has security to the tune of millions, and travel, too, all paid for by us. The new apartment at Kensington Palace is also costing millions, and again, we’re paying for that. So yeah, I think she does have an obligation to work. She’s in line to be Queen and she benefits from a lot of public money. The deal is that royals in that position sing for their supper.

I speak as someone who hasn’t liked the level of venom she attracts, and who never thought her pre-marriage work history was our business. But these days, yes, it is. We pay for it.

As the wife to the 2nd in line to the throne, Kate (or any woman PW had married)would have 24/7 security whether she likes it or not – her high profile only makes it more imperative/essential. Their private holidays including travel are normally all paid for by Kate’s parents (or William himself), not by us taxpayers. Kensington Palace is not privately own by the royal family. The state (the landlord) is rightly paying for all structural renovations (removal of asbestos, re-plumbing, re-wiring, new central heating, security up-grade and so on). The Queen/William are rightly paying for the apartment’s decoration &amp furnishings, out of their own (private) money.
Kate has a say but does not dictate the agenda, HM the Queen is her boss and she is very much in control of her family (especially Kate’s working schedule after what happened with Diana).
People rather forget that Charles & Camilla are the current Prince & Princess of Wales, they are the next king & queen (no matter how they call her) – W&K have a long wait ahead of them.
Haters will hate no matter what she does/does not.

@ Sisi. Please check point three above for info about work schedules, why Kate Middleton and Diana and their experiences are vastly different, and why it is illogical that you think a 31-year-old is seemingly in your opinion incapable (mentally? emotionally? physically?) of actually working for the privileged life she receives from the taxpayers.

Let’s set aside most of your fallacies for now. As you are such an avid supporter of Kate Middleton, I’m sure you are familiar with Richard Palmer (RoyalReporter on twitter). Employed as royal reporter, at official press conferences, etc.

He asks questions publicly to Palace officials, and they answer directly to him on the record. His responses when queried about Kate’s work ethic? And please remember, he knows exactly what the Palace officials said because they said it to him, directly, officially, On the Record. (Spelling errors below are his, not mine)

From Spring 2012

Richard Palmer @RoyalReporter
@sofia09870 Kate’s office says she is dictating her own pace and is happy with it.

Richard Palmer @RoyalReporter
@sofia09870 Kate’s office says she is dictating her own pace and is happy with it.

Richard Palmer @RoyalReporter
@HMtheRedQueen She is dicatating the pace and her office says this how she wants to do it.

Richard Palmer
@HMtheRedQueen
One Sunday broadsheet claimed llast weekend there was concern Kate was doing too much. But there is no concern on that score.

@ Sisi. I personally think they need to learn, through experience, that their way isn’t working.

Who is actually running the William and Kate show? Why don’t we look at William’s own words in an interview he gave about the Queen:

‘She’s very up for that sort of thing. And for me particularly, being the young bloke coming through, being able to talk to my grandmother, ask her questions and know that there’s sound advice coming back is very reassuring.’

But, equally, he is conscious of both the huge demands on her time and her firm belief in learning through experience.

‘It’s very much the case that she won’t necessarily force advice on you,’ he says. ‘She’ll let you work it out for yourself. She’s always there for a question or two, for whatever it is you might need.’ ‘My grandmother certainly does not care for celebrity’

‘But, just as she probably had to do, she feels that you have to work it out for yourself, that there are no set rules. You have to make it work. You have to do what you think is right. And she’s a prime example of that. She had to carve her own way, and she’s done it fantastically for 60 years.’

By Robert Hardman, exclusive interview, Daily Mail, 23rd September 2011

So if we’re going to blame anyone for William and Kate’s lazy behavior, the ones to blame are William and Kate.

It is not hate to ask public servants to step up and serve. It is the employer (taxpayers) demanding that the employees (Kate and William) work for their pay – or be fired.

Sweaty Betty yoga trousers are the best maternity wear. I used to wear them. They’re so well made they stretch to fit the bump, and they’re comfy and cute. And as they aren’t maternity wear, they aren’t as expensive. (Maternity shops are like wedding ones – captive audience, so they guauge you for all they’re worth.)

The title story in the Mail was hilarious. It was a “what if…” all through, not one scrap of evidence the Queen has ever even considered it. I’ll be amazed to death if she does.

I still don’t get how if she really was “spotted” there is no evidence — except for a picture from behind which could be anyone. Seriously???

The royal family may have a hold over the UK press and forbid them to take a cr*p without permission from the palace, but they have no power over other media and web sites. If Joe Schmoe spotted her, took a picture, he could sell it to a pap agency and voila. It appears on sites like this, People, US, etc.

janice, I share your skepticism, except apparently she’s been all over the London shops the past week or so. The cape photo could be anyone, and I didn’t think it looked like her (stance looked off) and the shot at the gap was blurry and could have been anyone.

That makes sense to me. I mean, does joe blow paparazzi photographer really give a fig about what the royal family wants? If the UK press don’t want to buy his photos, he can find tons of takers across the pond.

Royal correspondents who get tips from the public have all said she’s been out and about the entire week. They just don’t report it because there’s nothing else to say.

Kate shopping every day is a pretty tiring headline to have, don’t you think?

How different would the stories be if Kate was actually spotted coming out of a homeless shelter after 2 hours of volunteer work on Monday, and then was seen visiting the National Portrait Gallery the next day? Or on Wednesday, she went to visit a school and spent time sitting at different classes and interacting with students and teachers?

People are not reporting her out and about because there’s nothing interesting about her day. Her laziness is just as obvious with her being absent in the public eye for several months at a time.

Her bodyguards also forbid anyone from taking photos close-range. The only way you can take one is to wait when Kate has already walked away, take a photo from far away, or to take a photo secretly when she has her back turned. It fits the photos showing only her back while at a coffee shop.

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? These royals will gladly take our money to pay for their lifestyle, but we can’t even take one blurry photo of their faces while they’re out shopping.

The only way you can see Kate and know she’s out and about is through official events. That way nobody will know that her HG is fake and she’s been feeling well enough since the past month to get out of the house and gallivant around town.

She’s only sick when charity work is mentioned.

At this rate, the Palace should have her checked. See if she has work allergy.

Kate shopping every day is a pretty tiring headline to have, don’t you think?
————————————
ITA – it is tiring. But sites like US, People, etc., are “reporting” these tidbits so their audience seems to be interested. All I’m saying is that it would make more sense and add more credibility if they included the photographic evidence.

Secret meetings? What’s the point of secrecy when you are doing something for the public good? Silly me, I thought royal patronage was to bring PUBLICITY to worthy causes. I guess not?

I feel like William & Kate have been receiving really bad advice from someone. Either that, or Kate is ignoring all newspapers (this level of ignorance would not surprise me). Not even a pregnancy is lightening the public sentiments against her. Even Camilla shows her unloved mug at more events than the Duchess of Wait.

In other news, when do the Middleton’s jet out of the UK for holiday? February is the month of the Middleton’s annual Mustique vacation. I would bet these sightings in London are to keep the Caribbean vacation and subsequent absence of W&K from notice.

She said so in her engagement interview. (I very recently watched the entire thing for the first time.)

But I’ve thought all along that the Queen has to be OK with Kate’s light “work” load because by all accounts the Queen rules her family and tells members readily how they need to improve. Yes?

I am certain that Kate would never decide for herself to take on more charity work because she is a narcissist and extremely other-directed. Not even if she knew about and was bothered by media criticism of her work ethic.

Kate will work more only when one of her authority figures (the Queen or William) tells her to do that.

Is there a gag order on her FOUR charities to not say anything about the dates and times when Kate actually visits them?

These announcements have always been suspicious. It’s only St. James Palace who comes out with them and only after the alleged meetings have taken place. There’s never any proof. Not one photo of Kate sitting down to a meeting just to show that she was actually there.

Royal correspondents on twitter get lots of tips from the public who have seen Kate out and about the entire week, all around London, shopping to her heart’s content. But none of them ever mentions Kate being seen visiting any of her charities.

Are all of these “secret meetings” being held at Kensington Palace? In the dungeon? In the basement of the Middletons’ house?

She’s barely worked for her charities. Only 10 freakin’ days out of 365 last year! And those 10 days only involved 1-hour visits!

When she does show up for ‘work’, she barely contributes anything to her charities’ profiles. Donations have not increased even though Kate has been named patron of said charities. She just doesn’t generate interest, nor does she inspire people to help out.

She was rarely seen doing things for charity in her 10 years in the media, chasing after William. She even flaked out and dropped a charity event, upsetting the organizers counting on her help, all because William said he needed her and she should forget everything and cater to him!!!

What’s the use of having her as patron when she can’t be seen helping her patronages? Someone with her visibility and popularity can do so much for charities. She just refuses to do so.

It’s not even about the Queen or Charles not wanting to be overshadowed. Kate already overshadows them whether she works or not, so why not put her to work and make her gain experience?

Who wants a repeat of, “Can you test the smell of the tea by smelling it?”